As a Woman Leader, You Must Learn to Promote Yourself

Many women are uncomfortable with the idea of marketing or promoting themselves. But if you want to stand out, get ahead, or lead your organization to greatness, it’s important to become comfortable with self-promotion.

This is not the sleazy or slick marketing of the old days. Promoting yourself should be helpful, collegial, and kind. Most of the marketing I do is giving away free resources and materials, as well as doing pro-bono webinars.

The More You Give of Yourself, the More Comes Back

When I first became a consultant, I knew I would need to market my services, but I didn’t know what that might look like. I hated the idea of “selling myself.” What I found was that the more I gave away, the more that came back to me.

Think About Marketing Another Way…

You have something valuable to offer. If people don’t know about it, how can they get it? You must alert others to your programs or services, so they can get what only you can provide (an example of mine: DIY capital campaign support).

Remember — if you offer what someone wants or needs, they will be happy to use your services.

If You Don’t Promote Yourself, Who Will?

You might be uncomfortable with the idea of marketing, but that’s what it takes to be in business or in any positions of leadership. Marketing yourself means sharing your amazing ideas with your community.

To get the leadership position that you want and deserve, you need to put yourself up for it and sell your qualifications. Don’t sell yourself short. Whether you’re leading a nonprofit or a business, you need to promote yourself. No one else will do it for you.

Public Speaking is the Best Kind of Marketing (and it’s free!)

When I started consulting, I read books on consulting and quickly learned that public speaking was the number one way to market my services – for free. It didn’t require any expensive advertising or materials.

If you’re a nonprofit leader, it’s also a good practice to improve your speaking and presenting with public speaking.

Case in Point — My Public Speaking Career

When I began, I had no public speaking experience, and I didn’t really know where to start. Fortunately, a colleague at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) recommended I develop two topics and submit my ideas to local AFP chapters. Within a month I had three speaking engagements on the calendar.

I never planned (or wanted) to become a public speaker. And at the beginning of my speaking journey, I was not good. To become a better speaker, I read books, studied, practiced, and even hired more than one public speaking coach.

Today, not only is public speaking one of be best methods of marketing, I get paid for most of my talks! To date, I’ve spoken at more than 100 conferences.

A Published Book is a Golden Business Card

If you really want to be recognized in your community, there’s nothing like a published book to make you stand out from the crowd. I never considered writing a book before I became a consultant. However, one of the books I read on “how to become a consultant,” called a published book a “golden business card.” That sounded good to me.

Although I had never considered writing a book and had no idea what I’d write about, the idea planted a seed which would eventually become three published books!

You may not think you have anything worthwhile to say or any ability to write a book — neither did I!

You *CAN* Learn to Market Yourself

Sixteen years ago, I had never spoken in public, published a book, or run a business. You may not have led a nonprofit or run a business either, but you can learn.

You need to be open to new ideas and willing to try things and take risks. Some of the things may make your stomach twist into knots — like the idea of public speaking.

Bottom Line: Self-Promotion Works

If you want to grow as a leader, you will need to present your ideas to groups of people — large and small. That means being bold about what you have to offer, public speaking, writing a book, or doing something else that’s grabs peoples’ attention in a positive way.

To be recognized as a leader (and particularly a woman leader), whether as the leader of a nonprofit or a business, you cannot be shy about promoting yourself… because no one else will do it for you.